
WERT 
BOOKBINDING 

MIDDLETOWN PA 

DEC 83 

We>e Quility Sound 



DUTIFUL IS 

of 











* 







The 


Beautiful Land 

of 

Limitless Good 

By 

Sarah Ashton Hughes 

II 


Cover Design by Howard Willard and the Author 


Typography by Taylor’s Printery 


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* © ^ 
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WARREN T. POTTER 
PUBLISHER AND BOOKSELLER 
LOS ANGELES, CALIF. 


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COPYRIGHT, 1917 
BY 

SARAH ASHTON HUGHES 


Gift 

Author 

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TO YOU 

AND TO ALL THE DEAR CHILDREN 
OF ALL NATIONS AND CLIMES THIS 
BOOK IS LOVINGLY DEDICATED. 

— Author. 








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THE BEAUTIFUL LAND 

OF 

LIMITLESS GOOD 


|C)iHis 1S stor y a 

HlEamaiden who liked to think. 

One day she heard the fra- 
grant spring breezes singing 
about The Beautiful Land 
of Limitless Good, and she 
thought, and thought, and 
then she ran down into a 
woodsy park near by and 
climbed up into the branches 
of a green sycamore tree — and 
then thought, and thought, and 
wondered where this Land 
could be. 


She wondered what “Limit- 
less” meant, and then she said, 
“I know what City Limits 
means, it means this far and no 
farther, but Limitless, Limit- 
less — ” 

Just then a little golden 
oriole flew down from among 
the branches and whispered, 
“Without limitations forever, 
and ever, and ever.” 

Then the little maiden 
jumped out of her perch and 
clapped her hands and said, 
“Oh, I am so happy, I am so 
glad, I know what Limitless 
means — for it means that the 
Beautiful Land of Limitless 


Good is forever, and ever, and 
ever.” 

And then as she danced 
among the daisies she caught 
up her little skirt with her fin- 
gers, and she saw that she wore 
a beautiful dancing gown like 
the ones the young ladies wear 
when they dance “The dance 
of the wood nymphs.” She 
had on little white satin slip- 
pers with tiny gold buckles, 
and as she clapped her hands 
and danced around, the little 
gown looked like a pink cloud. 

Then she ran toward a beau- 
tiful green archway, formed 
by two branches leaning over 


to whisper to each other, and 
anyone who wished could go 
through this beautiful arch, 
for there was no gate there. 

As the little maiden passed 
through, a bluebird flew close 
to her and said, “This is the 
Beautiful Land of Limitless 
Good.” And she clapped her 
hands and said, “Oh, I am so 
happy, I am so glad.” 

Then she ran down into a 
field of wild blossoms where 
the bees were humming, and 
the birds were singing, and 
two beautiful butterflies with 
wings of brown and black, 
tinged with purple and yellow 


fluttered down and settled one 
on either shoulder, and fast- 
ened there a bunch of blos- 
soms — some as blue as the sky, 
and others as pink as her little 
gown, and before they flew 
away they told the little maid- 
en that these blossoms were 
from the seeds of love and care 
which she had given them, and 
that she could keep these blos- 
soms forever, and ever, and 
ever. And the little maiden 
said, “Oh, then they are limit- 
less.” 

Then she sipped honey with 
the bees and made wreathes 
and garlands, and soon she 


heard the mamma birds in the 
tree tops calling the baby 
birdies to their nests, and she 
knew that it was rest time. 

So she ran to a big tree and 
jumped upon the trunk, and 
there she found a little nest 
just her size, and she cuddled 
down with her little cheek 
against the silvery bark and 
her little arms around the 
branches, and smiled and rest- 
ed, and the stars came twin- 
kling out one by one. 

Far up in the tree, above 
the little maiden, was a hole in 
the trunk, and there a wise 
old owl blinked his eyes and 


watched. Out in a clear space 
of moonlight a little gray 
cloud of baby mosquitoes in 
blue jersies and gray jackets 
were playing ring-around-the- 
rosy. 

Soon they spied the little 
maiden and flew toward her. 
Just then the old owl scratched 
the bark of the tree with his 
big claw, and four little bats 
with fur caps and silken gowns 
flew down and immediately 
the mosquitoes scampered 
back to their playground in 
the clear space of moonlight. 

The old owl looked satisfied 
and said he wanted to sing, but 


he would wait until the little 
maiden could hear him, for he 
knew she would like to hear 
him singy Then as a faint 
tinge of pink appeared in the 
dawn, the owl said “To-whit, 
to-whit, to-who, — to-whit, to- 
whit, to-you,” and then popped 
back into his nest just as the 
little maiden looked up and 
laughed, and said, “Oh, he 
looked like a Cuckoo Clock.” 
And the owl heard what she 
said, and he was so happy, be- 
cause he knew she loved the 
Cuckoo Clock. 

Then the mamma birds be- 
gan to sing their baby birdies 


awake, and the little maiden 
sprang from her nest, and 
when she saw the blossoms all 
pink, and purple, and crimson, 
and blue, and the glistening 
diamond dewdrops, and the 
golden sunlight, she said, “Oh, 
this is morning and I am so 
glad for now I can learn more, 
and see more, in the Beautiful 
Land of Limitless Good.” 

Then she walked down a 
wide green, leafy pathway 
and came to a little house 
among the trees, and a tiny 
white bird, like a snowflake, 
flew down from the tree tops 
and told her that this was a 


“Movie House,” and that she 
could go in and sit anywhere 
she pleased, and that right in 
front of her she would see a 
little silken cord, and when she 
wished to see a picture just to 
jerk the cord and the picture 
would appear, and then to 
look for these letters under- 
neath the picture — 
“R-I-G-H-T T-H-O-T” 
And if she did not see these 
letters, to jerk the cord quickly 
for without these letters it 
would not be a true, real 
picture. 

So the little maiden went in 
and sat down and soon she saw 


the silken cord, and she felt a 
little afraid, but she jerked the 
cord, and there a picture ap- 
peared which looked like the 
trunk of a tree. It was long 
and striped and black, and she 
thought it looked like a whale. 
Then she remembered what 
the little bird told her about 
the letters underneath, and she 
looked, but they were not 
there. 

So she jerked the cord 
quickly and there appeared a 
beautiful girl with a gown 
like the one she wore, only it 
was white and she wore a 
crown, and in her hand she 


had a scepter, and on the 
scepter were these letters — 
“P-E-A-C-E,” 

and as she waved it toward the 
little maiden she was not 
afraid any more, and the 
beautiful girl danced and 
waved her scepter again. 

Then the little maiden jerked 
the cord and there appeared 
another beautiful girl with a 
dress of canary yellow, and she 
had no crown, but she had a 
scepter with a garnet point, 
and on the scepter were 
these letters — 

“H-A-P-P-I-N-E-S-S,” 
and at the point of the scepter 


“J-O-Y,” 

and when she waved it toward 
the little maiden they both 
laughed merrily, and the little 
maiden thought she had never 
had such a good time in her 
life. 

Then she jerked the cord 
again, and there was a little 
brown house, and under the 
eaves were these letters 
made of acorns — 
“U-N-D-I-S-T-U-R-B-E-D 
H-A-R-M-O-N-Y.” 

A Teddy Bear stood in front 
of the house, fast asleep, his 
little paws hung limply down 
and his little head on his chest, 


and when the little maiden 
saw the letters she said, “Oh, 
this is the little Teddy Bear 
that doesn’t care how many 
times you wake him up.” So 
she laughed and the Teddy 
Bear opened his eyes and 
jumped through the keyhole 
into his house, and as the little 
maiden wondered how such a 
big Teddy Bear could jump 
through such a little keyhole, 
he reached out his paw and 
pulled in the slats from 
around the keyhole. Then he 
jumped out, and then jumped 
back in, so that she might see 
just how this was done. 


Then he shook his little paw 
out through the chimney, and 
then came out and danced a 
“Teddy Bear Dance” around 
the little house, then jumped 
bacxk through the keyhole and 
appeared at the window and 
waved a bunch of grapes at 
the little maiden. Then she 
said, “It’s Teddy Bear’s eat- 
ing time.” 

So she jerked the cord and 
there — Oh, Oh, OH! There 
was a group of children play- 
ing in a snowbank. They were 
making snowmen, and snow- 
houses, and playing snowball, 
and tumbling in the snowbank. 


Soon two little rosy-faced 
girls with bobbed hair ran and 
jumped into a sled, and an- 
other little girl called out to 
them, “Oh, Virginia, Oh 
Daisy, are you going.” And 
the two little girls said, “Yes, 
Ruth, tell Robert to go and get 
the ponies.” 

Then a cunning little rol- 
licking boy left the snowman 
which he had just finished, 
and went behind the snowbank 
and brought out two laughing, 
jolly girls. He led them by 
ribbons and as they pranced 
he called out, “Whoa Dor- 
othy! Whoa Marjorie!” Then 


he fastened them to the sled 
with ribbons and jumped in 
and away they all went. 

Then the little maiden jerked 
the cord again and there was 
a beautiful panel picture of 
fruit — grapes — white grapes, 
and purple grapes, and 
bananas, and pineapples, and 
cocoanuts, and grape juice, 
and she said, “Why it’s nearly 
my lunch time.” And she 
clapped her hands for all the 
pretty pictures and said, “I am 
so happy, I am so glad,” and 
as she did so she caught her 
fingers in the cord, and there 
appeared a golden panel, and 


across it these letters made 
of snowballs 

“G-R-A-T-I-T-U-D-E.” 
And she said, “That’s just how 
I feel.” 

So then she went out among 
the trees and she heard music. 
She had heard flutes, and lutes 
and nightingales, but she had 
never heard any music so beau- 
tiful as this before. 

It led her to a clump of 
green trees, and she saw under- 
neath a party of children. 
They were singing, and as they 
saw her they caught her up in 
their arms and tossed her 
up among the green leafy 


branches. As she dropped 
into a hammock made of vines, 
and swaying gently in the 
breeze, she looked above her 
and saw these letters of shin- 
ing leaves hanging in a silvery 
web — 

“T-H-E 

M-E-R-R-Y M-A-K-E-R-S 
O-F 

H-A-R-M-O-N-Y’S 

N-E-S-T 

Just then one of the little 
Merry Makers brought her a 
basket piled high with grapes 
— blue grapes, and purple 
grapes, and bananas, and pine- 
apples, and cocoanuts, and 


grape juice, and she ate, and 
ate, and then she heard the 
Merry Makers singing — 

“Love is thy mantle, and 
Love be thy rest, 

Swing gently, sleep sweetly, 

In Harmony’s Nest.” 

And now we will be still 
and wait for another morning 
in The Beautiful Land of 
Limitless Good. 












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